Denny Grabenbauer, chairman of the Marshall County Board of Supervisors, served as the rally's emcee. / Kyle Munson/The Register

Written by

Hundreds of Marshalltown residents turned out for a noon rally Thursday on the lawn of the Marshall County Courthouse to launch a public 'Not in Our Town' anti-bullying campaign. / Kyle Munson/Register photos

BULLYING PREVENTION SUMMIT SET FOR NOV. 27

Gov. Terry Branstad’s Bullying Prevention Summit is Nov. 27 at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines. Local representatives of Marshalltown’s Not in Our Town have been invited.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

MARSHALLTOWN, IA. — They flocked to the downtown square here Thursday clad in similar orange T-shirts with “Not In Our Town” and “Stop hate. Together.” emblazoned on the front.

But the messages on the back were customized to fit their roles in this county seat that more than 27,000 Iowans call home.

“Not in our schools.”

“Not in our hospital” — said some of the shirts worn over an outfit of green hospital scrubs and blue sanitary booties.

“Not on our watch.”

“Not at our Y.”

The noon rally on the lawn of the Marshall County Courthouse was the public launch of a new “Not in Our Town” anti-bullying campaign plugged into the national Not in Our Town network.

Marshalltown aims to become a national example for getting a head start — reaching far beyond the classroom — before the community is confronted with something as sad and stark as the suicide death of bullied teen Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. in April in northwest Iowa.

“We’re not reacting to a tragedy,” said Marshalltown High School Principal Aiddy Phomvisay. “We’re proactive.”

Mayor Pro Tem Bethany Wirin stood among a committee of local officials, law enforcement and business leaders and read a proclamation that her city was committed to “push back the rising tide of hate violence” and also declared Aug. 27-31 “Not in Our Town Week” in Marshalltown.

The Marshall County Pork Producers doled out at least 600 free porkburgers. Attendees were encouraged to purchase $9 orange T-shirts as well as sign a pledge:

“I pledge to take a stand against any and ALL hateful actions. I feel that negative actions toward any person based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, ability, or any other factor are unacceptable. In acts of hate and intolerance, I feel that my silence is acceptance, and in order to combat hateful actions, I will COMMIT TO CHANGE, speak up, and do what I can to remedy the situation. I will express that such actions are intolerable in our community.”

Marshalltown High School juniors Kari Smith, Chloe Kuehner and Emily Revik were on hand as three of some 40 student ambassadors who have been tapped for training that will help them spread the anti-bullying message to their fellow students.

“I think we’ve all seen a little (bullying),” Kuehner said.

“It’s not necessarily what you see in high school movies,” Revik said. “It’s the little things now and then.”

As has been cited throughout the year as bullying has become a national hot-button issue, the three Marshalltown girls said that many student conflicts today are played out across social media and then spill over into school.

Gary and Joy Bryant of Marshalltown, retired teachers, joined the rally with their own pair of lawn chairs. She’s been retired for seven years, and Gary left his elementary school classroom in 1997.

It was in the mid-’90s, Gary said, when he realized that “the nuclear family is not the leading one.” He wonders how he might fare in today’s classroom with more complicated socioeconomic challenges spread throughout the student body to help set the stage for bullying; about 65 percent of local schoolkids, for instance, have qualified for free or reduced-price lunch in recent years.

Executive producer Patrice O’Neill with the national Not in Our Town organization also addressed the rally and spoke of the movement’s roots in 1993 in Billings, Mont., where an anti-Semitic incident inspired 10,000 local residents to place paper menorahs in the windows of their homes in a show of solidarity against white supremacists. She added that Marshalltown’s new Not in Our Town chapter is the first case of a local newspaper spearheading the cause.

Abigail Pelzer, managing editor for the Marshalltown Times-Republican, sparked the conversation in her newsroom that led to Thursday’s rally. The project, she said, has “become really a volunteer opportunity” for her and her colleagues.

Kyle Munson can be reached at 515-284-8124 or kmunson @dmreg.com. See more of his columns, blog posts and video at DesMoinesRegister.com/munson. Connect with him on Facebook (Kyle Munson's Iowa) and Twitter (@KyleMunson).